Dear Shri Noronha, You have made some important points in your reply to my post. I feel it is necessary that I reply. My responses follow your statements. * "Catholic-dominated" is a reflection of a certain disdain for diversity.
Response: That Goanet is catholic dominated is a statement of fact.You are much closer to Goanet being one of the Administrators and Moderators. So, please answer the following questions: What is the religion of the owner of goanet? What percentage of the moderators are catholic? What percentage of contributors to Goanet are catholic? Why are Hindu contributors who try to contribute regularly driven out? e.g. Anand Virgincar, Chinmay Bhandare. Why are secular catholics such as Mario Goveia driven out from Goanet? Why are people like Carmo(I believe that is his name) who supported Parrikar and the BJP pilloried on this forum? If you sincerely and accurately answer these questions, you will realise the folly of your argument.I have no disdain for diversity of religion, gender or thought. (By the same logic, would you define Goa as "Hindu-dominated"? Never mind the fact that treating religious communities as monoliths is self-delusionary at best or an attempt at deliberately creating confusion in the debate.) Response: Goa is not Hindu dominated although I do believe that if Goanet was read by more and more Hindus, then it is possible that Goa will become a Hindu dominated state.That would be a very sad day for me and many other like minded Hindus. At present Goa is not, for the following reasons. Goa has roughly 68% Hindus, 31% catholics and 1% Muslims, sikhs etc. Yet, Goa has had six Hindu and five Catholic chief ministers, Goa has had two or three catholic, at least three sikh, two muslim Governors Goa has had a long serving Muslim as cabinet minister. There have been catholics elected to GLA from Hindu dominated constituencies such as Ponda (Joildo Aguiar). You would find it difficult to find a Hindu or a Muslim elected from a constituency where the catholics have a majority. If there is one, I will stand corrected. There have been two catholic Deans of Goa Medical College. Only Goan to be the Chief Secretary and Head of Govt service, J C Almeida is a catholic. One could go on and on. If you consider these facts, would you call Goa Hindu-dominated? My point is that election once in five years, fought on polarised lines, are not the best indicator of what the citizenry wants. Everyone is voting with their feet, when they go to English-medium schools. For politicians to stake the future of the State and rabble rouse over this is understandable. But for an educated person, to lend justification to this thinking? As I pointed in my previous post, this just shows your disdain for democracy and it does not surprise me. Did you feel the same when you were a proud student (I guess) of Loyola's Margao [http://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@lists.goanet.org/msg23390.html] Or do you feel that only that lesser plebians deserve no access to an English education? Response. Just a small correction first.I was never a student of Loyola. I am a proud ex-student of Wagle High School, Mangeshi. Incidentally, this school was built from the generous donation by Wagle - an English medium secondary school founded by a Marathi speaking Maharashtrian. I did my education with Marathi as MOI for the first seven years and then Joined Wagle High School where MOI was English. I believe I had the best in education that Goa had to offer. This option or for those who love English as MOI, the choice of changing to English medium after just four years of primary education, is available to all the Goan students and I do my bit to keep it that way. The false propaganda that somehow English secondary education is only available to Pariikar's or Shashikala Kakodkar's children is just that, FALSE. As for your last query, the attempt to banish English from Goa's primary education is a gift from both writers in our regional languages (who believe the best way to promote a language is to push it down the throat of a reluctant populace) and also the PDF khidchi, with our beloved "Tayee" Shashikala Kakodkar as education minister, and a whole lot of honourable others (Churchill Alemao, Luis Proto Barbosa, etc) making use of their brief stint in power to feather their own nests. You will find one interpretation here: Response: Bhausaheb Bandodkar and Shashikala Kakodkar were strong supporters of Marathi and still had the wisdom and foresight to make education in English medium available to all the children in Goa. When Goa was liberated, my father had to employ a teacher to teach just three children from my village to teach us. Yet within three years, we had teachers appointed by the government who taught us in temple halls, rooms in private houses etc. Your attempt to rope in Barbosa is interesting and I would like to know more about his role.Churchill alemao and education is a hilarious thought. On the other hand,look at the opportunistic support for Konkani by the church authorities and diocesan schools. They were 'in love' with Konkani for twenty odd years raking in grants from the government. Yet, as soon as a completely un-democratic decision was taken by Goa cabinet following threats by 'Force', some 134 diocesan schools changed MOI to english without sparing a thought for their beloved Konkani. Who was feathering whose nests then? Looking back with the wisdom of hindsight, it is important to acknowledge the role English (a language Goa did not even have a colonial link with) plays in today's Goa. Likewise, it is crucial to stop confusing between concepts like "mother tongue", "official language" and "medium of instruction". If we look at concepts like 'first language', we could arrive at a better understanding of reality. Response: If the rest of this essay has the same rubbish, I am glad I never read it. Anil Desai --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
